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  • Essay / Are single-parent families dysfunctional? - 3387

    Introduction:A child's development depends largely on the family. The family is a very important factor that must be considered and understood when looking at the overall development of the human being (Lidz 1983). Traditionally, families are made up of two opposite-sex parental figures and their biological children. The number of traditional two-parent families has declined over the decades. These types of families are in rapid decline in modern society. Single parents raise a much larger proportion of children. In 2007, there were approximately 13.7 million single parents in the United States. Among them, about 84% of mothers had custody of the children and only 16% of parents with custody were fathers. More than half of the world's children spend at least some period of their childhood in an environment headed by a single parent (Hernandez 1988), and custody of the child often rests with the mother (Bumpass & Raley 1995). Researchers often argue that children raised in single-parent families tend to be worse off than those in two-parent families, but they point out that there is a certain degree of dysfunction within these households that sees children being treated like in a way that disrupts their emotional and cognitive development. This research, while widely supported (much research supports the hypothesis that single-parent families have negative effects on children's outcomes), has proven to overlook the variability within families labeled "single-parent families" (Richards and Schmiege, 1993). This lack of attention to variability leads to unfair generalizations of the results obtained. The essay aims to address this question by examining a number of different studies and weighing the middle of the article......mc/articles/PMC3074431/#!po=1.61290>18. Webster-Stratton C, Hammond M. Maternal depression and its relationship to life stress, perceptions of child behavior problems, parenting behaviors, and child conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 1988; 16:299-315.19. Wolf, Jennifer. “Single Parent Statistics.” About.com Single Parents. About.com Guide, and Web. July 14, 2013. .20. “Dysfunctional family.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, December 9, 2012. Web. June 13, 2013. .21. Wise, Sarah. “Family structure, child outcomes, and environmental mediators: Insights into development in a study of diverse families.” Aifs.gov.au. Australian Institute of Family Studies, January 2003. Web. July 12 2013. .